1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to golf ball washing device and in particular to portable golf ball washers to be conveniently carried on a golfer's person during play or attached to their golf club bag, cart, or the like.
2. Prior Art
Golf ball washers or cleaners are, of course, well known and a number of such ball washer devices for carrying by, or capable of being carried by a golfer, as by attachment to their person, golf bag, golf cart, golf cart handle, or the like, have been developed. For example, a golf ball cleaner is shown in an early U.S. Pat. No. 1,639,740 that provides for moving a first set of brushes relative to a second set of brushes to clean a ball that has been positioned therebetween, with a brush arrangement shown also in an earlier British Patent No. 12,853. These arrangements, however, are not like the present invention that does not employ opposing brushes. Golf ball cleaning arrangements that incorporate a casing containing spongy pads, with the spongy pads receiving a golf ball fitted between cleaning surfaces thereof, and the springy pads to be moved relative to one another, are shown in U.S. Pat. No. to Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 3,041,645; to Strout, U.S. Pat. No. 3,378,873; to MacConnel, U.S. Pat. No. 3,750,219; and to Ingram, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,287. These patents, however, do not employ separate cup sections that each contain a cleaning material and are arranged to receive and clamp over a golf ball fitted therebetween, with the cup sections containing cleaning pads to be manually movable relative to one another, moving also the cleaning material across the golf ball surface, that is like the arrangement of the present invention.
Opposing cup arrangements, each containing a pad, or pad like cleaning surface, with the cups openable to receive a golf ball fitted therein, with the cups capable of being closed together, and providing for movement of the cleaning pads, or pad like cleaning surfaces over the golf ball surface, removing materials therefrom, are shown in U.S. Pat. No. to Hoffecker, U.S. Pat. No. 3,006,009; to Sharrow, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,040; and to Persic, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,486, and in British Patents to Epstein, No. 6,260; to Harrison, et al. No. 213,428; and to Winstanley, et al. No. 21,120,948. These arrangements, similar to the present invention including half spherical, cup, or like members, that are to be fitted or closed together over a golf ball, and provide for moving one member relative to the other to move also cleaning materials or pads over the golf ball surface, with the cups then openable to allow retrieval of the cleaned golf ball. These earlier arrangements, however, to do include a restorable reservoir system that is to contain a cleaning solution and feed measured amounts of that cleaning solution into the cleaning pads, for facilitating removal of materials off from the golf ball surface, as do the embodiments of the present invention. Nor do such earlier cleaners employ a handle arrangement that is like that provided in one embodiment of the present invention